St David's, Pembrokeshire

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St David's, Pembrokeshire
St David's, Pembrokeshire
St David's, Pembrokeshire
Miles Wynn Cato
title=Credit line
Title
St David's, Pembrokeshire
Date
Undated
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 43 x 54.4 cm
Imperial: 16 15/16 x 21 7/16 in.
Collection
Private Collection, UK
Wilson Online Reference
P235
Provenance
Unidentified auction (35 - R Wilson. View of Llangollen); perhaps bought by Welbore Ellis Agar (1735-1805) [...] with Leggatt Bros, London 1951 (as Llangollen Castle); Charles Ernest Russell (1866-1960); his sale, Sotheby's London 30 November 1960 (120 - A View of Llangollen); Mrs Charles Boden Swift, Derbyshire; Private Collection UK; with Miles Wynn Cato, Painswick, Gloucestershire, March 2026
Verso inscriptions
[1] Upper left quartile, black paint: 60B
Labels
[1] Centre horizontal member of stretcher, left, small printed label with serrated edges: 6408
[2] Centre crossing of stretcher supports, typewritten label: Llangollen, | by | R. Wilson, R.A.
[3] Lower left quartile of canvas, adhered printed sale catalogue entry: 'R. Wilson ..... 35 View of Llangollen' with black ink annotation: W.E[?]A. 399 --
[4] Vertical member of stretcher, base, small circular manuscript serrated label: 6242
Subject
The location was traditionally regarded as Llangollen until the correct identification as St David's was made by Miles Wynn Cato in 2026.
Related Paintings
P57 Rome: St Peter's and the Vatican from the Janiculum, Tate, London
Critical commentary
The small city of St David's is a location of great significance in Welsh history as the burial place of St David, the country's patron saint. As a centre of pilgrimage it may be seen as an equivalent to Rome in views of Italy as hinted by the compositional layout of this picture which is related to P57 Rome: St Peter's and the Vatican from the Janiculum, Tate, London. P235 may be associated with the early genesis of the set of prints Six Views in North and South Wales by various print-makers all after Wilson, published by John Boydell in 1775. St David's is within a relatively short distance (about 56 kilometres or 35 miles) of other locations in that series, notably Pembroke (E29) and Cilgerran (E31).
Bibliography
Not in WGC.
More Information
As Miles Wynn Cato has remarked in an unpublished essay, Richard Wilson’s topographical and compositional transpositions between Italy and Wales constitute one of the most sophisticated and intriguing aspects of his art. In transplanting St David’s into a highly recognisable Roman landscape, he has made a dramatic and audacious visual statement.
Condition/Conservation
Housed in carved gilded period frame. Relined. Formerly covered in yellowed varnish with flattening of darker impastoed areas. Conserved by Stewart Meese, May 2026
Updated by Compiler
2026-06-01 00:00:00